Synopses & Reviews
The Jewish Labor Movement was a radical subculture that flourished within the trade union and political movements in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. Jewish immigrant activists—socialists, communists, anarchists, and labor Zionists—adapted aspects of the traditions with which they were raised in order to express the politics of social transformation. In doing so, they created a folk ideology which reflected their dual ethnic/class identity. This book explores that folk ideology, through an analysis of interviews with participants in the Jewish Labor Movement as well as through a survey of the voluminous literature written about that movement.
A synthesis of political ideology and ethnic tradition was carefully crafted by secular working-class Jewish immigrant radicals who rediscovered and reformulated elements of Jewish traditions as vehicles for political organizing. Commonly held symbols of their cultural identity—the Yiddish language, rituals such as the Passover seder, remembered narratives of the Eastern European shtetl, and biblical imagery—served as powerful tools in forging political solidarity among fellow Jewish workers and activists within the Jewish Labor Movement.
Review
...Shuldiner has performed a significant service.Labor History
Synopsis
Examines the beliefs and rituals of the Jewish Labor Movement in the United States not simply as emblems of ethnic identity, but as forms of expressive behavior.
Synopsis
Participants in the Jewish Labor Movement in the United States constructed a "folk ideology"--a unique synthesis of radical politics and symbols borrowed from Jewish tradition--and crafted a "folk history" of its origins and practices. This is the only study to offer an in-depth description of radical celebrations of Passover. The book also presents, in its appendices, complete texts of three radical haggadahs.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-239) and index.
About the Author
DAVID P. SHULDINER holds appointments as Humanities Program Coordinator with the State of Connecticut, Department of Social Services, Elderly Services Division, as Adjunct Faculty in the School of Family Studies, University of Connecticut, and in the Gerontology Program at St. Joseph College, and has taught folklore at Trinity College.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Paul Buhle
Introduction
When Moses Met Marx: Aspects of Jewish Radical Folk Ideology
Folk Ideology and Folk History: Reading Writings about the Jewish Labor Movement
Matters of Belief: Secularized Judaism and Spiritualized Radicalism
"A Story in Itself": Personal Narrative and Folk Ideology
Folklore and Folk Ideology: Political Expression in Traditional Forms
The "Third" Seder of Passover: Liberating a Ritual of Liberation
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index